Harden's 31 and CP3's 25 lead Rockets to 115-11 win over the Bucks

Posted: December 16, 2017 -- 11:30 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets earned a hard fought 115-111 victory Saturday night over the Milwaukee Bucks. Tonight's win is the 13th-straight win for the Rockets which ties for the fourth-longest winning streak in franchise history. The Rockets improve to 24-4 which ties the 1993-'94 team for the best start through the first 28 games of a season.

For the second consecutive game, James Harden and Chris Paul combined for 56 points. Last night, both of them score 28 points. Saturday night, Harden scored 31 and Paul scored 25. Paul scored 23 of his points in the second half.

Before the game, Harden's status was uncertain because of the pain in his right knee. He hurt his knee in Friday night's win over the San Antonio Spurs.

"I wasn't feeling well at all; but, doc came in and just told me that it's going to be painful; but, you can play through it," Harden said after the game. "It can't get worse; but, it's going to be painful until, obviously, you give it some time. So, once said that, I was like 'Let's Go.' "

Harden said the sore knee bothered him throughout the game.

"Yeah, I wasn't moving like I usually move; but, we won, move on to the next game."

Both teams played Friday night; and, much of the first quarter featured tired legs and sluggish play on both sides.

The Rockets and the Bucks each shot 8 for 20 from the floor and both made only 2 three point shots in the first quarter.

Thanks to 10 for 11 free throw shooting, the Rockets led 28-25 after the first quarter.

Milwaukee (15-13) shot 55.6% (10 for 18) from the floor in the second quarter and outscored the Rockets 30-27 to tie the game at 55 at halftime. Milwaukee's Eric Bledsoe and Malcolm Brogdon each scored 13 points in the half while Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 10 points due to solid defense from Houston's P.J. Tucker.

With Chris Paul going 0 for 5 from the floor in the first half, big man Nenê picked up the scoring slack with 16 points on 7 for 8 shooting. Nenê did not score in the second half; but, the Rockets are 7-0 when he scored in double-digits this season.

Clint Capela did not play in the game due to a left heel contusion. Nenê played 14 minutes in the first half.

In the third quarter, the Rockets took advantage of the Bucks' (over) aggressive defense and attempted 14 foul shots (made 13). Chris Paul sank all three of his 3 point shots (0 for 4 from three in the first half) and scored 13 points to help the Rockets win the quarter 29-24.

The Rockets led 84-79 after three quarters. Early in the fourth quarter, Paul knocked down two pull-up jumpers during an 8-0 spurt to put the Rockets ahead 95-83 with 7:03 on the game clock.

The Rockets led 103-91 with 4:18 remaining; however, the Bucks began chipping away the next few minutes and got as close as three points two times in the final seconds.

Paul sank two foul shots for a 114-109 lead with 13.3 seconds remaining. Milwaukee's Eric Bledsoe missed a three-point shot; but, Antetokounmpo rebounded the miss and scored and was fouled by P.J. Tucker with 2.3 seconds on the game clock.

Antetokounmpo intentionally missed the free throw; and, Trevor Ariza snared the rebound and was fouled. Ariza split the free throws; and, the Bucks failed to scored in the closing seconds.

The Rockets found a way to win.

"Well, the biggest thing was we just didn't have our best stuff tonight," Head Coach Mike D'Antoni acknowledged after the game." Emotionally, yesterday, whatever. Pretty quick turnaround. Just go on and on. Missing Clint; but, we found a way.

"It was one of those typical grind games. Just got to find a way somehow. Chris (Paul) -- I never coached him in a back-to-back; but, (after the 0 for 5 start), I'm thinking he's kind of dead. Then, all of a sudden, he comes out in the third quarter and turns into Superman."

"You find it," Paul said of his second half performance after a sluggish first half. "Some nights, it's like that. Early in the game, it was slow. It was my first back-to-back of the season; and, I think all of us, just all of the different games and stuff like that, you just lean on each other. That's what we talked about all game long.

"That was one of our best wins of the season to tell you the truth. I think it just showed the fight that our team has and the maturity that it has. You should have heard P.J. at halftime; and, a number of other guys who just kept talking about 'find a way; find a way'; and, we did."

The Rockets made only 11 three-point shots tonight (35 attempts); but, the Rockets held the Bucks to just 8 made three-point baskets (27 attempts, 29.6%). Over the past three games, Rockets' opponents are averaging 7.3 made three-point shots on 29.7% after averaging 15.7 made threes on 45.2% shooting the three games prior.

P.J. Tucker started in place of Capela and posted his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Rockets improve to 18-1 when scoring 110 points plus this season after going 43-5 in 2016-'17.

The Rockets improve to 5-0 in games decided by five or fewer points this season after going 15-6 last season.

The Rockets go for win number 14 in a row Monday, December 18, versus the Utah Jazz. Monday's game is the fifth game of a 7-game Rockets' homestand. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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